Pharalynn Dickson had a busy schedule at the Mid-Willamette Conference track and field meet but she made it look easy.
The South Albany freshman set two meet records and three personal bests on her way to winning the girls 100-, 200- and 400-meter races Saturday at West Albany High School’s Coach Jim Luster Track. If that wasn’t enough, she finished her day by anchoring the RedHawks to a come-from-behind win in the 4×100 relay.
Dickson ran a meet-record 12.32 seconds in the 100, followed that with a 56.99 in the 400 and later clocked a meet record of 25.18 in the 200.
She now leads the 5A classification in all three distances this season.
South Albany’s Klaire Bitter, left, and Pharalynn Dickson pose for a photo on the winner’s stand after helping the RedHawks to a victory in the girls 4×400-meter relay Saturday at the Mid-Willamette Conference track and field district meet. Dickson, a freshman, also won the 100, 200 and 400, events in which she leads the 5A classification this spring.
Jesse Sowa
After Morgan Jones, Tatum Trudell and Klaire Bitter carried the baton on the first three legs of the 4×400 relay, Dickson took the stick in fifth place and about four seconds behind the leader. She appeared to be in a different gear that the rest of the field and crossed the finish line first in 4:07.04, third in the 5A season list.
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West Albany’s team of Emalie Lindberg, Alexa McGowan, Jenna Konzelman and Haley Blaine was second in 4:08.28.
Crescent Valley’s Emily Wisniewski set a meet record for the second time in as many races.
She set a new standard in the 3,000 on Thursday in 9:38.54, breaking her own 5A all-time record. Saturday, she held off West Albany’s Haley Blaine and Raiders teammate Lillian Weiss to get the win in 4:35.24.
Blaine, the 2022 district and state champion in the event, was second in 4:35.43 and Weiss third in 4:38.83. The top three finishers were all under the previous meet record.
Weiss went on to win the 800 in 2:17.97 ahead of runner-up Blaine (2:19.22).
Crescent Valley won the girls team title with 136 points. Lebanon was second (102), Corvallis third (90), South Albany fourth (69) and West Albany seventh (54) in the 10-team meet.
The top two placers in each event qualify for next week’s state meet at Hayward Field.
Athletes can also reach the state meet with qualifying marks and times or by receiving a statewide wild-card berth awarded to those who don’t finish in the top two at their district meets.
Five wildcards are awarded at the 5A level, one at the 4A and 3A levels and four at the 2A and 1A levels.
The state meet for 3A, 2A and 1A classifications will be held May 25-26 and for 6A, 5A and 4A it will be May 26-27.
Lebanon’s girls 4×100 relay team of Taylor Roles, Addilynne Pickles, Hayden Knutson and Alyse Fountain knocked three-quarters of a second off its season-best time to win in 50.09.
Fountain was second in the 100 (12.72) and 200 (26.09) and Pickles second in the 400 (59.47). Teammate Aurora Torresi won the javelin (127-11) and Crescent Valley’s Haley Bland was second (121-4).
Lebanon’s Taryn Cornell was second in the shot put (35-7). CV’s Greta Koegler was second in the 100 hurdles (16.83).
Boys
Like Wisniewski on the girls side, Crescent Valley’s Kanoa Blake broke a second meet record Saturday with a win in the 1,500 in a personal-best 3:56.98. He won Thursday’s 3,000 final in 8:50.06.
Blake ran the anchor leg on the Raiders’ second-place 4×400 relay (3:31.74), which also included Daniel Marshall, Dylan Mitchell and Adam Teglassy.
Boys meet records were also set by Central’s 4×100 relay (42.45) and the 400 (49.27) by the Panthers’ Jack Burgett, who was also on the relay.
West Albany’s 4×100 relay team of DeMarcus Phillips-Houston, Jonathan Fiscal, Garrett Lee and Austin Simmons was second (43.75). Lee won the 110 hurdles (14.86) and was third in the 300 hurdles (41.18).
South Albany got wins from Zander Campbell in the 800 (1:57.68), Jesse Bass in the shot put (46-9) and Camren Thompson in the high jump (6-0).
Lebanon’s Jackson Parrish won the triple jump on his final attempt with a mark of 43-6¾. Corvallis’ Truman Brasfield was first (40.70) and teammate Rowan Finlay second (40.95) in the 300 hurdles.
Central won the boys team title with 126 points, 6.5 better than runner-up Silverton. Corvallis was third (101), Crescent Valley fourth (81.5), South Albany fifth (70), West Albany sixth (53) and Lebanon eighth (38).
Jesse Sowa is a sports reporter at the Albany Democrat-Herald and Corvallis Gazette-Times. You can connect with him on Twitter: @JesseSowaGT.